Title

Author

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS) in Psychology: Clinical

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Philip Watkins

Second Advisor

Amani El-Alayli

Third Advisor

Sarah Keller

Abstract

Grateful disposition is associated with positive affect, happiness, high levels of overall well-being and an appreciation of simple pleasures. This study further examined the relationship between simple pleasures and trait gratitude. I hypothesized that people with higher trait gratitude scores would notice more simple pleasures in their lives and feel more gratitude for simple pleasures than less grateful people. I acquired data from 169 undergraduate students at Eastern Washington University. Results suggested that grateful people experienced the same number of simple pleasures as less grateful people but were more grateful for them. This suggests that although grateful people do not encounter simple pleasures more frequently, they do experience more positive affect regarding simple pleasures, particularly simple pleasures that have occurred recently.